VERTICAL CAR PARKING

Parking is a major problem faced by the urban areas in the recent times. With the increasing number of automobiles on road, and the increasing density of population, the land area available for parking has reduced drastically. The ratio of automobile to land has shown an adverse trend. Taking the environmental hazards into consideration, reducing the proportion of automobiles on road is the need of the hour, though no possible mechanism could be devised to reduce the purchases, as it solely depends on the attitude of the people.

Kerala is a state with high density of population. Today people hardly have any area to construct dwellings and hence, there has been an observed trend towards vertical expansion. The inability to expand horizontally has led to the increased number of flats in Kerala in the recent times. Today most of the people reside in multi storied buildings, not only in Kerala nut also in other parts of India. Day by day there is an increase in the construction companies coming up with newer projects of vertical expansion. Though suspected to adversely impact the geological balance, vertical expansion is the only panacea of development in the coming future.

In the present times, residential as well as office buildings are multi storied. The ‘skyscrapers’ decorate the metropolitan and the big and small cities of the country. Then why can’t parking also follow a vertical expansion pattern? Naturally, a doubt arises as to how the two and four wheelers reach the first floor (and the subsequent floors) as they are unable to climb the staircases. By constructing a spiral way to the upper floors, this problem can be solved. The sliding landing will ensure the free movement of the vehicle to the subsequent floors. This has been successfully implemented in various countries of the west.

With the government of Kerala proposing to take up land for parking lots, this vertical expansion technology will definitely improve the intensity of the parking efficiency. If a three or four storey parking lot is constructed, three to four times the actual capacity of the allotted land can be utilized for parking. Such a facility can also be ensured by the shopping malls and big showrooms in the towns, which face heavy, rush of customers, thereby, contributing to the traffic congestion.

With the ever increasing traffic and the menace created by traffic, all remain the culprits and bear the effect of this crisis. If timely step is not taken, all efforts at road widening will only result in the widened roadsides being transformed into parking areas, which will definitely mean all money and efforts aimed at road widening has gone waste!